Teresa Drake’s yoga class meets Tuesday at noon and Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center.

Teresa Drake (JD 94) has done yoga in airports, in the back of airplanes and all over the country. But it was not until last spring that she could say she had done it in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center.

As the director of the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic, she began teaching yoga to clients as a form of self-care. Drake realized law students too could benefit from the stress relief yoga provides.

“If we’re teaching students legal skills, we need to teach them self-care skills,” Drake said. “These students are going to be subject to taking on the problems of their clients. Hopefully this can help them during their time here as well as in their professional careers.”

Yoga is a practice for the body and the mind that helps with stress reduction, body mechanics, circulation and breathing. Drake also believes it makes people more mindful and reconnects the mind and the heart.

Andrea Krkljus (JD 12) used Drake’s class as a break from studying for the bar exam this past summer.

“She makes everybody feel comfortable and welcome,” Krkljus said of Drake. “In our profession, it is so important to learn and practice positive stress-relieving skills. It would make me very happy to see the yoga class continue at UF Law.”

As more students began expressing interest in Drake’s yoga classes, she decided to turn it into an extracurricular activity and hopes to one day have the funding to buy blocks and blankets.

“Too many times people tell me they’re not in good shape or they’re not flexible, so they are embarrassed to try,” Drake said. “Yoga is for everybody. You get your physical workout, your mental clarity, your relaxation and your centering all at once. It’s one-stop shopping.”

The Law Yoga Club: Bringing Students to the Mats meets at noon on Tuesdays and at 4 p.m. on Thursdays in the Advocacy Center lobby. Classes are free and open to students, alumni and faculty. Drake asks that participants bring their own mats.

- Francie Weinberg
Student writer

Teresa Drake, director of UF Law's Intimate Violence Assistance Clinic, was one of five recipients of the Alachua-Bradford County Women of Distinction last month. (Photo by Vincent Massaro)

By Brandon Breslow
Student Writer

Every day, Teresa Drake (JD 94) wakes up to face the world for the victims of domestic violence.

As director of UF Law’s Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic (IPVAC), Drake is these victims’ lawyer, counselor, advocate and friend. For the law students who work with her on these cases, she is their teacher and role model.

“It is a labor of love,” Drake said. “I’m so passionate about the lives we touch.”

Her passion has not gone unnoticed.

In honor of Women’s History Month in March, Drake was named one of five recipients of the Alachua-Bradford County Women of Distinction award by Santa Fe College for her work in the field of domestic violence for more than 20 years.

“May you come to know her as so many in this community have and may you feel the depth of her legacy to the most vulnerable among us,” wrote Laura Knudson in her nomination letter for the award.

Knudson is trauma intervention and special services bureau chief at the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

“I was the only one surprised to find out I was getting the award,” Drake said. “My family found out about it when (Knudson) called my friends and colleagues for nomination letters to go with the application.”

More than 100 other women have received the award since 1987. Drake was honored at a luncheon on March 1.

“It was a great platform to promote awareness of domestic violence in our community,” she said.

Drake has been working on community awareness and assistance in her field since she began volunteering for Peaceful Paths Domestic Abuse Network while attending UF Law. She volunteered in an emergency shelter at night, helping battered women deal with the distress of leaving their abusers and the trauma inflicted by their relationships.

Drake was recently named Peaceful Path’s Community Advocate of the Year for 2010.

“I never ceased to be amazed at the strength I saw in victims,” Drake said.

Her volunteering led to an offer to work for the State Attorney’s Office in the 8th Judicial Circuit in 1996. During her 13 years as a prosecutor, she served as an assistant state attorney for child welfare legal services, the domestic violence unit and the county court.

For three years, she was division chief of the domestic violence unit where she prosecuted the largest, non-institutional felony child abuse case in the history of Florida, involving 25 children.

Drake also took on the added responsibility of training prosecutors and law students nationally on how to handle victims of domestic violence.

“It’s a special area and it needs to be treated as such,” Drake said.

She took her training and her passion to a new level in 2008, when she conceived an idea with UF Law Professor Nancy Dowd to create a civil clinic geared toward providing full legal services to victims of domestic violence.

“Whenever you’re dealing with victims in crisis,” Drake said, “they don’t just have one need. Domestic violence affects their kids, their housing and their finances.”

Following several months of grant writing with Dowd, director of the Center on Children & Families, the blueprints for the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic – the first of its kind in the nation – were laid out.

The clinic would utilize law students in helping domestic violence victims handle civil matters, such as injunctions for protection and dissolutions of marriage. Clients would also have access to a mental health counselor, a victim advocate and a clinical social worker.

In November 2009, word came in that the Department of Justice awarded them the grant necessary to make the clinic a reality. By January 2010, Drake had resigned from the State Attorney’s Office and was director of IPVAC.

Three active terms later, IPVAC has 22 students assisting clients with their most intimate legal and advocacy needs. They also go into the community and assist with screening for victims of domestic violence at emergency shelters and with the College of Medicine at Shands.

“Every term, I get this brand-new batch of law students and I get to watch them change tremendously and have their own breakthroughs,” Drake said.

Drake’s work with the State Attorney’s Office reaped one additional benefit. It was where she met her husband, Henry Stephen Pennypacker (JD 83). They married six years ago.

“We fell in love prosecuting child abuse,” Drake said. “We are both passionate about the protection of children and domestic violence victims.”

She has one daughter, Aaron, 22, who is a senior at Hampshire College in Massachusetts.

Drake also teaches yoga in Gainesville and cares for one dog, five cats and four chickens.

“The chickens are the only animals we have that earn their keep,” Drake said. “Every morning I wake up to free-range eggs.”

Drake also wakes up with weight of her work on her shoulders, but the heavy load has yet to discourage her from continuing her fight for her victims.

“It’s a ride like no other,” Drake said. “I thrive on it.”

Nancy Dowd
David H. Levin Chair in Family Law and Director, Center on Children & Families “Rick Scott dodges answers by invoking Fifth Amendment, Democrats claim in ad” (Oct. 12, 2010, PolitiFact Florida)

A new ad from Alex Sink’s gubernatorial campaign points out that GOP candidate Rick Scott invoked his Fifth Amendment right 75 times in a deposition regarding fraud allegations aimed at his hospital chain, Columbia/HCA.

From the article:
“The Fifth Amendment is not a shield against fishing expeditions,” said Nancy Dowd, a UF Levin College of Law professor. “If you want to cloak yourself in the protection of the Fifth Amendment, it has to be for the reason that your answer could result in criminal liability.”

Teresa Drake
Director, Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic (IPVAC)
TV interview – “Family Spotlight” on IPVAC Clinic (Oct. 7, 2010, WCJB-TV 20)

Drake discussed intimate partner violence crimes as well as the new Intimate Partner Violence Asisstance Clinic – of which she is the director – in this TV 20 spotlight.

Thomas Hurst
Professor Emeritus and Sam T. Dell Research ScholarHurst presented a paper entitled “The Use of Clawbacks to Recoup Excessive Executive Compensation After the Worldwide Financial Crisis” at the Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime at Jesus College, Cambridge University in September.

Clifford Jones
Associate In Law and Lecturer “Ambler’s suit to knock Norman off ballot goes to trial Tuesday” (Oct. 11, 2010, The Tampa Tribune)

State Rep. Kevin Ambler filed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman for running for state senate and remove him from the November ballot. The lawsuit claims Norman failed to report a house in Arkansas owned by his wife, mostly paid for by a former friend and political supporter.

From the article:
State law says disqualification is an appropriate penalty if a candidate deliberately fails to list assets on state financial disclosure forms, said Clifford Alan Jones, a professor at the University of Florida law school.

“But it is not clear to me if a court would order (disqualification) prior to completion of an Ethics Commission hearing,” Jones said.

Diane Mazur
Professor “Congress, not courts, may have final word on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’” (Oct. 11, 2010, Law.com)

Mazur commented on the recent federal court rulings regarding the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and the previous court cases they cited in their decisions.

From the article:
“Although these Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell cases are not criminal prosecutions, not sodomy prosecutions, the courts in both Witt and Log Cabin said, ‘We’re still talking about the same constitutional liberty,’ ” said Diane Mazur, a professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and legal co-director of the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which focuses on military issues including Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Judge orders ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ injunction” (Oct. 12, 2010, Associated Press)

Last week a federal judge issued an injunction to stop the enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, to be effective immediately. Mazur commented on the president’s position on the issue.

From the article:
“The president has taken a very consistent position here, and that is: ‘Look, I will not use my discretion in any way that will step on Congress’ ability to be the sole decider about this policy here,’ ” said Diane H. Mazur, legal co-director of the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara that supports a repeal.

The article ran in a number of media outlets, including The New York Times.

Mazur was quoted in AP’s “Quotations of the day.” ”The whole thing has become a giant game of hot potato. There isn’t anyone who wants to be responsible, it seems, for actually ending this policy. The potato has been passed around so many times that I think the grown-up in the room is going to be the federal courts.” – Diane H. Mazur, a legal expert at a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara in comments after a federal judge ordered the military to immediately stop enforcing its ban on openly gay troops.

Jon Mills
Dean Emeritus Director, Center for Governmental Responsibility
Animal activists mount protests of UF researcher” (Oct. 8, 2010, Gainesville Sun)

A UF researcher has been the target of animal rights activists because of a connection to research done relating to experimentation on primates. A website has been created with the researcher’s address and a picture of his home on it and protests have been planned in Gainesville and in the researcher’s neighborhood in the future. The approach indicates a shift in animal rights activists’ tactics, focusing on individuals involved or related to research rather than the larger entities who sponsor it. Currently the situation appears to be a protest rather than a threat, according to UF police.

From the article:
The courts typically have given wide latitude to free-speech rights in such cases, said UF law professor Jon Mills, who wrote a recent book on privacy. But he said a civil case is possible if someone is being slandered with false information, and other legal action also could be taken in the case of a threat. “People can say a lot of things online if it falls short of actual slander, but one thing that the courts get nervous about is if they say or imply actual threats,” he said.

“Summary of 6 statewide constitutional amendments and one nonbinding referendum” (Oct. 12, 2010, Gainesville Sun)

With six proposed changes in the Florida Constitution on the November ballot, Mills addressed the issue of Florida Supreme Court’s language standards that can sometimes make the wording of amendments confusing to some voters.

From the article:
“The language has to be less than 75 words and explanatory of everything (the amendment) does and be approved by the Supreme Court,” said Jon Mills, a University of Florida law professor. If it’s not in the title, “it would be considered deceptive. The Supreme Court has taken several initiatives off the ballot for being misleading,” he said. Nonetheless, initiatives and constitutional amendments are one of the people’s rights and one that should be taken seriously, Mills said. “They are there permanently,” Mills said. “Putting something in the constitution is hard, and getting it out is even harder.”

Attila Andrade Jr.

Visiting ProfessorAndrade has conceived a new formula according to which moral damages and abstract pain can be calculated in law suit cases. His formula is explained in volume II of his book “Comments on Brazil’s New Civil Code” published by Companhia Editora Forense in 2003. His purpose is to avoid judge’s uncertainties and ambiguities in issuing money judgments for these kinds of law suits.

Bob Dekle

Legal Skills Professor“Robbery suspects face life” (Sept. 29, 2010, The News-Press)

Two men connected with the robbery of a McDonald’s restaurant in Fort Myers could face life in prison. The ordeal resulted in the death of one police dog and one robbery suspect. The charges will not be in connection with the dog’s death, however, because the dog’s shooter was already shot and killed by the police.

From the article:
“University of Florida law professor Bob Dekle said even though prosecutors haven’t charged Amaya and Fermin with Rosco’s death, it wasn’t a foreseeable crime and one that was furthered of the armed robbery.”

“‘It is an area of the law where reasonable people can disagree about what is foreseeable,’ Dekle said.”

Teresa Drake

Director, Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic (IPVAC)
Drake lectured at the Advanced Institute for the Prosecution of Domestic Violence, sponsored and produced by the Office of Violence Against Women, Aequitas and The Battered Women’s Justice Project in August in Washington, D.C. Her topic was interviewing victims of domestic violence.

Drake spoke at The Battered Women’s Justice Project conference “Addressing the Impact of Domestic Violence on Children” in Providence, R.I., last month. Her topic was interviewing and preparing children to testify.

Joseph Jackson

Legal Skills ProfessorTV interview (Sept. 24, 2010, WCJB TV-20), link not available at this time

Jackson commented on the recent 3rd District Court of Appeal ruling, which overturned Florida’s ban on gay adoptions. Jackson was the primary author of an amicus brief submitted to the court regarding the case.

Martin J. McMahon Jr.

Stephen C. O’Connell Professor of LawMcMahon presented “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation” with University of Houston Law Center Professor Ira Shepard at the 45th annual Southern Federal Tax Institute last month in Atlanta.

McMahon presented “Litigating The Application Of Anti-Tax Avoidance Statutes: Learning From The Canada Experience” with the Honorable Patrick Boyle, Richard Sapinski, Nathalie Goyette, and Henry Schneiderman at the Court Procedure and Practice Committee Program, American Bar Association, Tax Section, Fall Meeting, in Toronto last month.

McMahon also presented “How Canada’s Experience with the General Anti-Abuse Rule Might Inform US How to Live with the Codified Economic Substance Doctrine” with the Honorable Donald Bowman, former Chief Judge of the Tax Court of Canada at the Joint Meeting of Partnerships & LLCs and Real Estate Committees, American Bar Association, Tax Section, Fall Meeting in Toronto last month.

Diane Mazur

Professor
“Gay activists look to the courts to end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’” (Sept. 22, 2010, The Washington Post)

While the debate over the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy continued to unfold in Federal courts, Mazur discussed arguments in favor of repealing the law.

From the article:
“Gay rights groups said the government has no obligation to appeal. Diane H. Mazur, legal co-director of the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara that is devoted to repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ cited a 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas sodomy law because it restricted a person’s right to sexual privacy.”

“‘Judge Phillips recognized that “don’t ask, don’t tell” can no longer be justified under current constitutional doctrine, and President Obama is not required to argue otherwise,’ Mazur said. ‘He need not defend laws that are based on old, discredited constitutional assumptions.’”

“Witt decision offers preview of post-’don’t’ ask, don’t tell’ world” (Sept. 27, 2010, San Diego Gay and Lesbian News)

Mazur commented on the recent U.S. District Court ruling in Washington in favor of Air Force Major Margaret Witt regarding the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

From the article:
“Diane Mazur, Palm Center legal co-director and University of Florida law professor, also responded to Judge Leighton’s written opinion in Witt.”

“‘Witt and Log Cabin were the first challenges requiring the government to produce evidence that “don’t ask, don’t tell” improved military readiness, and in both cases the government was unable to do so,’ Mazur said. ‘The government pointed to an earlier case upholding the policy, Cook v. Gates, but there the court barred the plaintiffs from introducing evidence that “don’t ask, don’t tell” harms the military and excused the government from producing any evidence at all. Once the policy is put to a test of fact, it fails.’”

Kenneth Nunn

Professor“Panel hears from the wrongly convicted” (Oct. 1, 2010, The Florida Bar News)”

As a member of the new Innocence Commission in Florida – which examines the causes behind wrongful convictions to avoid future wrongful convictions – Nunn weighed in on a debate over the wording of the commission’s mission statement. The phrase in question was: “exoneration cases in Florida based on DNA testing.” The sentence was eventually removed altogether.

From the article:
“University of Florida College of Law Professor Kenneth Nunn added: ‘We are not saying these are individuals who are angels of the Lord, shall we say. But we are saying they are entitled to rely on the presumption of innocence that all American citizens are entitled to,’ because they have not been proven guilty. Exoneration, Nunn said, ‘is the correct legal term for the status of affairs we are talking about.’”

“Professor Nunn offered a friendly amendment to replace ‘exoneration’ with ‘cases in Florida where convictions have been reversed based on DNA testing.’”

Elizabeth Rowe

Associate ProfessorRowe’s article “Contributory Negligence, Technology, and Trade Secrets,” originally published in the George Mason Law Review in 2009, has been republished in the Defense Law Journal.

“UF takes on high schools to protect logo” (Sept. 21, 2010, The Gainesville Sun)

In an effort to protect its logo and identity, the University of Florida and the licensing company that represents the school is cracking down on several schools around the country who are using similar logos as the Gators.

From the article:
“Under trademark law, universities essentially have a legal obligation to police the use of their marks, said Elizabeth Rowe, associate professor of law and director of the program in intellectual property law at UF. Failing to do so could mean giving up the right to stop unauthorized uses, she said.”

“The issue is becoming more significant as college football becomes increasingly lucrative, she said. But she said the issue is somewhat different when dealing with high schools that might send students to the universities.”

“‘With sports you have the argument, “We’re using the mark to support you,”‘ she said.”

Michael Seigel

ProfessorUpon invitation by Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick Leahy, Seigel testified as an expert witness last week in Washington, D.C. regarding honest services mail and wire fraud in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Skilling v. United States.

Seigel presented a lecture titled, “Ethical Lessons Learned from the Duke Lacrosse (Non)Rape Case,” to the faculty of the Saint Louis University School of Law on Sept. 16.

Michael Allan Wolf

Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law“Florida voters enter battle on growth” (Sept. 27, 2010, The New York Times)

Wolf commented on the debate in Florida surrounding Amendment 4 on the November ballot, which would allow citizens to vote on state-mandated plans regarding land development and growth in counties and municipalities.

From the article:
“‘Most planning advocates would love to have the structure we have in Florida, but most Floridians know that the structure doesn’t work,’ said Michael Allan Wolf, a University of Florida law professor. ‘Amendment 4 suggests that, on the ground, this system is really broken.’”

The new Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic is a partnership between the UF College of Law Center on Children and Families and Virgil D. Hawkins Civil Legal Clinics, UF’s College of Medicine, Shands HealthCare, and Gainesville’s nonprofit Peaceful Paths Domestic Abuse Network. The innovative clinic will be staffed by UF law and medical students who have been trained and certified to work with survivors of domestic-violence and by social and mental health workers from Shands at the University of Florida and Peaceful Paths. The clinic, set to open in May, will be located in the obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics clinic at Shands at UF in Gainesville. The location was chosen due to the number of abuse victims treated in the clinics.

“Currently, those experiencing domestic violence may have to set up several appointments to seek help through numerous providers, which can be very difficult for these victims,” said Teresa Drake, director of the clinic, a nationally recognized educator on domestic violence and a former assistant state attorney with the Eighth Judicial Circuit in Florida, where she served as division chief for the domestic violence unit. “The staff at the clinic will conduct comprehensive needs assessments to determine what services are required and guide them through each process. The services provided by the clinic will include medical treatment, mental health and housing counseling, and legal consultations regarding protective injunctions, child support and court proceedings.”

According to a 2007 Uniform Crime Report, more than 2,300 incidents of domestic violence occurred in the clinic’s service area, which includes Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Union counties. Existing legal service providers were able to respond to only 951 requests for legal assistance in 2007, leaving as many as 1,349 documented domestic violence victims with unmet legal needs.

“These problems are not unique to the Eighth Circuit, or to Florida,” said Theresa Harrison, executive director of Peaceful Paths. “All around the country, domestic violence survivors fail to receive the needed services, often because the process of contacting the separate providers, attending appointments and following up is just too overwhelming. We hope the clinic will serve as a model for service delivery in other jurisdictions where survivors’ needs are unmet.”

To meet the objectives of the grant, the clinical collaboration will develop protocols and cross-training procedures for clinic staff, develop and implement domestic violence curriculum and training throughout courses within the law and medical schools, and conduct community outreach by providing information about the clinic in targeted locations throughout the service area.

Those impacted by domestic violence in the six-county service area should call 1-800-393-SAFE (7233).

Their project had two major components. The first was a table set up in the courtyard where men could make their pledges and all students were invited to hand-paint t-shirts representing victims of domestic violence. The second was an April 9 presentation by Teresa Drake, assistant state attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit, and Lynn Cooke, an attorney for Three Rivers Legal Services and president of Alachua County’s task force against domestic violence.

“There’s only one cause of domestic violence, and that’s the batterer,” Drake stated, lamenting the way in which victims are often blamed not only by their batterers but also by society for their abuse. She explained that often during a trial for domestic abuse, jurors will think, ‘well, if it’s so bad, then why didn’t she just leave?’

When she subpoenas a victim of domestic violence, Drake said that she is certain to tell her, “I am so sorry that this happened to you. You don’t deserve it.”

“I can tell that it’s often the first time that she’s heard that,” Drake said, adding that a victim’s reasons for staying are highly complex, both psychologically and logistically.

For many women, their batterers are their only sources of financial support and they fear leaving the home that they have known behind, taking only their children and whichever belongings they are able to hastily pack into an overnight bag. For these women, they know that “the batterer may destroy everything they left behind – their pets, their personal belongings, everything,” Drake said.

According to Drake, 70 percent of women who are killed by their batterers are killed while trying to leave. She also described an ongoing tension with the Department of Children and Families who sometimes accuse a woman in an abusive relationship of failing to protect her children, countering that perhaps, “in staying in that relationship, is she keeping them alive?”

Cooke discussed how civil remedies such as injunctions against an abuser may also help keep a victim safe. The benefit of having an injunction is what Cooke referred to as a “collateral benefit” that is not dependent on the outcome of a criminal case. If an abuser violates an injunction, the victim may seek relief within the criminal or civil system, depending on the circumstances, Cooke said.

Another primary reason for women staying in abusive relationships, Drake explained, is the cycle of violence. Drake described women in abusive relationships as having fallen in love with their abusers before the abuse began.

“When you fall in love, the person has no flaws. They’re perfect. And you’re trying your best to be perfect.”

Then, there’s an act of violence followed by extreme remorse on the part of the abuser along with shifting blame from himself onto perhaps drugs or alcohol or, in some cases, onto the victim. Drake notes, however, that domestic violence is never caused by drugs or alcohol, but always by “power and control.”

While her abuser is in the remorse period, the victim again sees the man she fell in love with, what Drake calls “the flowers and hearts guy,” and says that it is not until the victim recognizes that the “flowers and hearts” guy is not the real person, but rather that the batterer is, that the cycle stops.

The inspiration for the project, Kelley and Wick said, was the recognition of a “need for men to take a stand and realize that [domestic violence] is a male issue as well.” Both students agreed that from this project, they have been impressed with the response from men who stopped at the table to learn more about domestic violence and to pledge to never become an abuser.

INFORMATION TABLE Beginning today, Monday, April 6, and running through Thursday, April 9, there will be a table in the courtyard. The table will include Information about domestic violence/violence against women, statistics, interactive activities, movies, and the t-shirts described below.

CLOTHESLINE PROJECT: Come by the table and decorate a t-shirt for display around the campus. Each decorated t-shirt will be in recognition of someone (you, a friend, family member, anyone in your life) that has been affected by domestic violence, violence against women, or any unhealthy relationship. Together, the decorated t-shirts will create a visual display of how domestic violence affects our law school community.

MALE PLEDGE & WHITE RIBBON: We will also be asking the men on campus to sign a pledge against violence against women and to wear a white ribbon in recognition of their pledge. This is an attempt to promote the idea that violence against women is a male issue. As such, the resistance against violence against women needs to start with men. By signing the pledge, men show their personal resistance in opposition of violence against women. Our hope is that every male student, professor, administrator, and employee linked to the law school campus will sign the pledge.

PANEL DISCUSSION/PRESENTATION: The event will culminate in a panel discussion about violence against women. Teresa Drake, assitant state attorney, will speak about the legal aspects and issues surrounding violence against women and Anna Guest-Jelley, the director of the Violence Prevention Program at Peaceful Paths, will speak about domestic violence prevention. This will take place on Thursday, April 9, at 1 p.m. in 382 HOL. Free lunch will be served.

Finally, we want to emphasize that this event is meant to raise awareness about violence against women, to showcase the silent effect these issues have on almost everyone, and to encourage solutions to the problem. It is not meant to target anyone nor to compel anyone to participate against their will. Participants do not have to disclose any identifying information.

We are aware that our program may affect individuals in different ways. It may especially hit home for individuals who have been involved in or witness to a violent situation. Therefore, we will have names and resources for anyone who may wish to discuss anything or to seek outside assistance. If you have any questions about the event, please contact Aaron Kelley at aaronk13@ufl.edu or Kara Wick at kwick25@ufl.edu. We are looking forward to your participation as, together, men and women take steps against violence.

Assistant State Attorney Teresa Drake spoke in Bailey Courtroom about domestic violence on Oct. 31.

Assistant State Attorney Teresa Drake refers to her job as “homicide prevention.” Drake, county court division chief for the Eighth circuit, spoke at the Levin College of Law on Oct. 31 about her experiences prosecuting domestic violence cases, stressing the importance of attorneys handling such cases with both delicate care and fierce advocacy.

“Control issues in a relationship are the hallmark of a batterer,” Drake explained.

The mechanisms that abusers use to control their victims, according to Drake, are varied and include social isolation, monetary restriction, verbal attacks, physical attacks, and threats. Many abusers also use children to communicate threats, send messages, and manipulate their victims.

According to Drake, 73 percent of all emergency room visits and 70 percent of all calls to law enforcement occur when victims are attempting to leave their abusers. Additionally, most domestic violence abuse victims who die at the hands of their abusers die after they have left the relationship — the abuser’s answer to losing control over the victim.

In order to help protect victims once abuse has been reported, Drake works closely with Peaceful Paths, a Gainesville-based domestic abuse help network, and Three Rivers Legal Services, which helps provide legal assistance to underprivileged clients. Drake praised the Gainesville area for having such strong programs to aid domestic abuse victims.

Help being available, however, does not necessarily mean that victims will seek it.

Drake addressed several of the complex reasons why victims are often unwilling to come forward. One reason is that many victims do not even realize that they are victims, because the image of a woman with a black eye or a broken nose has been burned into society’s collective consciousness as what a domestic abuse victim must look like.Instead, Drake explained, most victims will have either less-visible injuries or no injuries, and victims will often not identify an occasional shove or push as abusive. Similarly, many victims of emotional abuse do not identify themselves as victims since they also lack the physical traits of abuse.

Just as not all abuse victims will have bruises, Drake noted that not all abusers seem abusive and are often highly charming masters of manipulation. She also addressed the issue of providing legal representation to a batterer. While many shudder at the thought, Drake pointed out that batterers also need an attorney who will have the best interests of any children in mind and will direct the abuser to appropriate outlets to work toward stopping the abusive behavior.

In determining if a potential client is in fact a potential batterer, Drake identifies three warning signs: minimizing, denying, and blaming. She added that the batterer will often make unsubstantiated accusations against the victim, deflecting fault from themselves.

By assisting victims of domestic abuse in escaping from an abusive relationship, and by prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence, Drake hopes to break the cycle of abuse in relationships that otherwise could have ended in tragedy.

For more information about types of domestic violence and help available to victims in the Gainesville area, visit www.peacefulpaths.org.